1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer, and relates, more particularly, to a printer that has a guillotine cutter having a movable cutter and a fixed cutter which is arranged removable.
2. Description of the Related Art
While printers are being used in a very wide range of fields, certain types of printers, particularly small printers, often use roll paper. Printers that use roll paper are equipped with a cutter for cutting the roll paper at a predetermined position. Among various types of cutters, there is a cutter called a guillotine cutter that slides a movable cutter on the surface of a fixed cutter. On the other hand, roll paper is exchanged frequently in the small printers. In order to facilitate the exchange of roll paper, or in order to clean the inside of the printer, some printers have a platen connected to the fixed cutter of the guillotine cutter, and these units can be integrally removed.
In a guillotine cutter, it is difficult to well cut paper when the position of the moving line of the movable cutter relative to the fixed cutter is deviated. When the fixed cutter is removable, a deviation in the position of the moving line of the movable cutter relative to the fixed cutter possibly occurs. As a result, there arises a problem that it is not possible to obtain a satisfactory cutting action.
The present invention has been made in the light of the above problems. It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a printer that has a guillotine cutter having a fixed cutter and a movable cutter, and the fixed cutter is removable, and that has no variation in the relative position between the fixed cutter and the movable cutter.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising a guillotine cutter having a fixed cutter and a movable cutter that is movable toward the fixed cutter, wherein
the fixed cutter is provided with a platen via a platen supporting member, and is removable together with the platen,
the printer has a cutter fitting member fixed and integrally formed with a printer casing that accommodates a printer main body including a printing section, the cutter fitting member having a bottom plate and a pair of side plates erected on the bottom plate,
a movable cutter driving member that drives the movable cutter is positioned on the cutter fitting member with a movable cutter positioning unit, and
the fixed cutter is positioned on the cutter fitting member with a fixed cutter positioning unit, with the fixed cutter positioning unit formed on the upper end of the side plates of the cutter fitting member.
According to the printer having the above structure, the movable cutter and the fixed cutter of the guillotine cutter are positioned on the cutter fitting member that is integrally formed and has a bottom plate and a pair of side plates erected on the bottom plate. Therefore, the relative position is not deviated. Further, as the fixed cutter positioning unit for positioning the fixed cutter is formed on the upper end of the side plates of the cutter fitting member, the machining is easy.
According to another aspect of the invention, a platen stopper is fitted to the printer casing, and
when an shaft of the platen fitted to the fixed cutter via the platen supporting member is inserted into a guide provided on the printer casing, the platen stopper applies force to press the fixed cutter against the fixed cutter positioning unit.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a relative angle between the fixed cutter and the movable cutter is adjusted by changing the fixed cutter positioning unit or the movable cutter positioning unit.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a full cut and a partial cut are changeable by changing the position of the movable cutter driving member using the movable cutter positioning unit.
According to still another aspect of the invention, on both ends of the movable cutter in its width direction, there are provided guiding sections that first ride on the upper surface of the fixed cutter when the movable cutter moves toward the fixed cutter, and
either the fixed cutter or the movable cutter or both the fixed cutter and the movable cutter have ride smoothing units that make the guiding sections ride smoothly on the fixed cutter.
Preferably the ride smoothing unit is made by upwardly bending the guiding section to make it ride on the fixed cutter.
Preferably the ride smoothing unit is made by cutting off the width end portion of the upper edge fixed at the movable cutter side.
Preferably the ride smoothing unit is made by tapering down the both width ends of the upper surface of the fixed cutter.
According to still another aspect of the invention, the platen supporting member is fitted to the fixed cutter via a spring member, and the spring member always applies force to the platen supporting member against the fixed cutter.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a roll paper guide that prevents a jam of the roll paper is formed on the spring member.
According to still another aspect of the invention, the platen supporting member is fitted to the fixed cutter with a play.
The present invention may be more fully understood from the description of preferred embodiments of the invention set forth below, together with the accompanying drawings.